All these airlines opening up services to MAN are clearly deluding themselves ........
Soap box again?
Alliance mechanics mean exactly that, LHR (BA) competes with EK (DXB), EY (AUH), AMS(KL), CDG(AF) and FRA(LH) as gateways to the world, large intercontinental hubs with fortress legacies as members of one alliance or government backed arm of the state.
Look at Cathay, Heathrow is a gold mine for them ( in their top 3 I believe?), feeding MAN-LHR-HKG keeps that profit margin high, although I argue we're well beyond where MAN deserves it's own metal. There's a national interest in expanding our one and only hub airport, it baffles me how people are so blind to what the businesses they depend on are asking for. You must understand that however much Emirates supports MAN, they run five A380s through LHR and would like more! Let's not rob Peter to pay Paul please?